I often think that all inclusive hotels are much the same! However, trendy Lara was certainly one of the best I’ve ever been to!

The staff were fantastic, and I was approached by a chap from customer relations asking if there’s anything the hotel could do to improve its service, we did put a recommendation in as it would be good to have a spin dryer in the pool area to remove access water your swim clothes, but I thought that there was very little this hotel could improve on because it was very good!

The location is very quiet if you want to go anywhere out of the hotel there is a great bus service just across the road, which will take you into Lara this area has shops and restaurants, or if you stay on the bus LA70A, it will take you into Antalya old town, where you can visit the bizarre or go down to the harbour (in season, you can get a boat trip) or simply shop till you drop. The bus charge just one fixed price per journey. (It doesn’t matter how far you go) You can use your bank card to tap and go on the bus and it cost about 25p a journey so well worth getting out of the hotel even if it’s only once.

The hotel served food and drink around the clock, the food in the main restaurant was really good quality and lots of choice, I was in Turkey so I wanted Turkish food but there was enough variety to keep people happy, every evening there were pizza and pasta, plus chips and chicken nuggets for the children.

Dom Bistro, is a smaller restaurant that opens when the main restaurant closes, so if you have been out for the day or don’t want to eat too early, there’s always an option. My favourite little area was “eclairs” the cake shop, where you could have soft drinks or a hot chocolate the cakes in there were lovely, it was a very nice plush area with great decor. Beautiful pink sofas and hanging chandeliers with mirrors on the walls.

The outdoor area of the hotel is very big with tennis and other sports available.
I went out of season so not all the pools were open. There was an outdoor heated pool but only heated to a certain temperature only the very brave could survive it … it might be more appealing if they would turn the temperature up. The indoor pool was a couple of degrees warmer again, I would’ve liked that to be a bit more comfortable, but nevertheless I got in most days, the steam room sauna and her Hamman were lovely, fantastic relaxing areas with tranquil music the perfect way to unwind during your holiday.

My room was brilliant. Most of the hotel was closed down so all the guest were in block C. I did hear an argument one evening while I was trying to sleep but that is not the hotel’s fault. It was quite late into the night. I am guessing as the bar is open 24 hours alcohol might of fueled the argument.

My room was serviced every day they came in and changed the towels made the bed even though I had already made it and also the minibar was refilled. On my husband’s birthday they made a wonderful display of Swans out of the towels and left some chocolates.
My bed was very big, super comfortable, great pillows, my only grumble was the air-conditioning was a bit noisy… I wasn’t staying through the hot months so I could manage without it.

The hotel advertised as having a beach, to be fair, it wasn’t a great beach. You catch a boat from the hotel to the other side of the river inlet. There are a lot of stray dogs over there. I think it will probably be a lot better in the summer when hopefully they probably do a lot of work there to make it better for the guests, but out of season I wouldn’t bother.

There are a couple of shops inside the hotel i thought the prices were quite reasonable. there is an area where people left their books so you can pick up a holiday read, I saw a few people playing table tennis, like most of Turkey there are a lot of cats but they were not inside the hotel they were all outside in the grounds.

Whilst on holiday, there is an opportunity to book the al a cart restaurants, (I believe you pay extra for these) because the hotel was not full they would only open these restaurants if they had bookings of six or more, i enquired a couple of times about booking them but couldn’t get a definite answer of what nights they would be open, so unfortunately I missed the opportunity, I know they did open and people that ate they gave me great feedback.. after a week in an all-inclusive it is nice to be waited on rather than have to go up and get your own food.